Speaker Biographies
2007 International Sled Dog Symposium
Sponsored by the Alaska Dog Mushers Association, Fairbanks Junior Dog Mushers Association, the Fairbanks North Star Borough Pioneer Park, and Eagle Pack Pet Foods
In alphabetical order, these are some of the speakers who'll be presenting at our 2007 International sled Dog Symposium. Biographies are added as we receive them. For more information, email Ami Gjestson or ADMA, or call 907-457-6874.
Alaska 4-H Dog Mushing Program—Little Su 4-H Club
The Little Su 4-H Club is the home of the Alaska 4-H Dog Mushing Program. The program was started by Larisa Myers in October 2002 to help educate junior mushers of all ages and help keep the long tradition of mushing alive in our youth. The 4-H program is a practical, learn-by-doing educational program for youth 5 to 18. It is operated through the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Mat-Su Copper River District Cooperative Extension Service in Palmer, Alaska. The club has three levels of curriculum: Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced, and a hands-on learning portion, which includes care and training of teams to participation in sprint, mid-distance racing, Junior Yukon Quest, Junior Iditarod, and backcountry trips. The leader and founder, Larisa Myers, was raised in the Alaska Bush and has been mushing dogs for 34 years. Larisa has a veterinary degree, was a junior sprinter, and ran the Junior Iditarod in 1983 and 1984, receiving the humanitarian award in 1984.
Dale Anderson and Laura Katucki
Dale and Laura are recreational mushers living off Chena Hot Springs Road in Fairbanks. They operate Lucky Dog Kennel and currently have 17 dogs, 16 of which are in a free-run kennel. Their primary goal in mushing is to enjoy the sport and have happy, healthy dogs. They take pride in their dog care and believe that even those dogs that are hard to handle can come around with proper care and socialization.
Joel Buth
Joel Buth is the owner of Goldstream Sports, a full-service ski and bicycle shop located on the outskirts of Fairbanks. He has several years of experience as a ski instructor, including coaching multiple high school teams and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nordic Ski Team. Between coaching and owning a ski shop, Joel has become renowned as one of Fairbanks' leading wax technicians. His expertise and innovative waxing techniques are sought after by skiers, skijorers and mushers of all ages and ability levels.
Kriya Dunlap, PhD
Kriya grew up in upstate New York with 150 sled dogs and upwards of 60 pups a year. At age 5, she was bribed with candy into racing her first race and, despite her immediate addiction, she expected candy after every race for several years. Shortly after her father, Harris, retired, Kriya went to a sports academy for cross country skiing and on to college at Cornell University to study animal science. Once again, Kriya found herself working with sled dogs at a sled dog research facility with Arleigh Reynolds. That is where she decided to get ONE sled dog and combine her two favorite sports by trying skijoring. For graduation Arleigh gave Kriya her "first" dog, Oban. Graduate school and the mushing allure brought Kriya to Alaska to study blueberries as an antioxidant in racing sled dogs. After completing her master's degree in biochemistry, she continued on for an interdisciplinary doctorate in nutrition, using sled dogs as a sentinel for the effects of subsistence diets on immune function. Kriya received her doctorate in May 2007.
Kathy Frost
Kathy Frost and her husband, Lloyd Lowry, were given their first dog team (6 dogs) in 1978. Because they knew no other mushers at the time, they began to develop their own approach to training and breeding. Kathy and Lloyd started racing in limited-class races in 1980, and Kathy competed in the open class for the first time in 1983, starting with the Anchorage Women's Rendezvous. She went on to win that race eight times. She ran her first Open North American in 1987, using the same dogs she'd competed with in 8-dog races all year, and regularly raced in 8-dog, 10-dog and open classes (using the same dogs) until retiring in 2001. Kathy and Lloyd specialized in keeping a small kennel (20-35 dogs, including active racing dogs, pups and retirees), in maximizing each individual dog's potential, and in breeding for leaders. They generally bred 1-2 litters per year, mostly from within their own kennel with occasional outbreedings to introduce genetic diversity. Their goal was to breed multipurpose, friendly dogs that could be used in most aspects of mushing. Dogs from the Frost/Lowry kennel have competed successfully in limited and open classes as well as mid-distance and long-distance races.
Arna Dan Isacsson
Arna first pursued Nordic mushing and skijoring while she was growing up in Sweden in the 1970s. As a teenager, Arna studied Turkish Livestock Guardian Dogs as a 4-H component, and raised a litter of puppies together with their parents for an entire year. She has been involved in numerous international programs in canine studies and behavioral ecology over the years. Arna currently lives with 26 dogs of different breeds and backgrounds. She maintains a family pack made up mostly of shelter dogs or other dogs in need of new homes, and cares for many foster dogs. She says that for her dogs, living as part of a domestic dog pack structure is the closest she can bring them to the reality of a natural canine composition. She believes living as an interconnected group helps foster overall wholesome dynamics for them.
Karl Kassel
Karl got involved with dog mushing in the mid-1970s and since that time has participated in almost every aspect of the sport. He has run dogs recreationally, raced limited sprint classes competitively, and traveled the Alaska and Yukon backcountry by dog sled. He has served in a variety of organizational capacities, including president of ADMA and president of the Yukon Quest. He is the well-known voice of the Open North American Championship and has moderated at numerous past symposia.
Lance Mackey
Lance is the first musher ever to win the Yukon Quest and Iditarod back-to-back, a feat thought by many to be impossible. Even more astonishing is that several of the dogs in his Iditarod team were part of his Yukon Quest team. Lance is also one of only two mushers to win the Yukon Quest three times in a row. A lifelong Alaskan, Lance is part of a well-known family of dog mushing champions; his father, Dick Mackey, won the Iditarod in 1978, and his oldest brother, Rick Mackey, won the 1983 Iditarod and the 1997 Yukon Quest. Lance has been racing since he was a junior musher and says that for his family, dog racing is a way of life. After the 2007 Yukon Quest, Frank Turner, a fellow Quest champion, wrote, "In all of the years of the Quest that I have participated in… there has never been another musher who has brought the level of enthusiasm and dog care that you consistently have brought into play. You are an inspiration to everyone who loves the sport of sled dogs."
Steve Mahoney
Steve provides the agency service of Planned Giving. He is retired from ARCO Alaska, where he served as the company's vice president of tax. In addition to specializing in tax law, Steve is a CPA, giving him a broad base of knowledge from which to structure planning giving vehicles. He has served on a number of nonprofit boards in Anchorage, including the Boy Scouts, Association of Fund Raising Professionals, Diabetes Association and Performing Arts Center. Steve holds a B.S. degree in Accounting and Computer Sciences from Pennsylvania State University and earned a J.D. at the University of San Francisco.
Wesley Rau
Wes is a physical therapist of more than 30 years, and a certified manual therapist. He was the Oregon state representative for veterinarian physical therapy, and has presented at the National Physical Therapy Symposium in Seattle on spine disorders of canines. Wes first spoke at the ADMA symposium in 2003 and has been invited back by popular demand ever since.
Arleigh Reynolds, DVM, PhD, DACVN
Dr. Arleigh Reynolds is a veterinarian and a canine exercise physiologist and nutritionist who also competes in open-class sprint races. He received both of his doctoral degrees from Cornell University. He says racing started as his doctoral project, but has become his job and life's passion (second to wife and kids). Arleigh has studied the relationship between diet and performance in sled dogs for more than 19 years in his laboratory and on the Alaskan sled dog trails. He has worked as a veterinarian on the Iditarod, the Open North American Championship, the International Federation of Sleddog Sports World Championships, and the ALPO series in New York.
John Schandelmeier and Zoya DeNure
John Schandelmeier and Zoya DeNure, professional dog mushers and a husband-and-wife team, own and operate Crazy Dog Kennels, a competitive racing kennel and canine rescue. John was born and raised in Alaska and began running sled dogs in 1982 on the trapline. His racing career, which spans sprint, stage, mid- and long-distance races, began in 1986. John has completed 17 Yukon Quests and has won the Quest, U.P. 200, Knik 200, Klondike 300, and others. He has received numerous dog care awards while working mostly with a kennel of less than 20 dogs. In recent years, John and Zoya have been training and racing rescued dogs from around the state. Their kennel currently houses about 50 dogs, of which half are rescues. Zoya has been training and racing sled dogs since 2000, beginning with sprint and then mid-distance. She came to Alaska in 2002 from Wisconsin for the love of dogs and to follow a dream. Zoya worked as a dog handler for Bill Cotter during the 2002-03 season, gaining experience and knowledge. She is dedicated to excellent dog care and nutrition. Zoya is the creator and host of the Gin Gin 120, the Women's Dog Race. She began middle distance racing in 2004 and will be a rookie in the 2008 Iditarod. Zoya has been featured on radio and in print and has addressed audiences from around the world about mushing and her lifestyle in Alaska.
Claudia Sihler
Claudia's background is as a German veterinarian with a doctor's degree in dog behavior. She came to Alaska 8 years ago. Claudia has helped train long-distance dogs and worked two Iditarods as a veterinarian. Her husband, Frank Sihler, is a long-time musher and Iditarod finisher. Since 2002 Claudia has had her own pet-dog training business, "The Better Companion," in Wasilla. As a Certified Pet Dog Trainer, she emphasizes reward-based training for all occasions, from raising a puppy to obedience and agility competition, as well as for working and racing dogs and for any problem behaviors in dogs.
Bev Stevens
Bev was born in Schenectady, New York, came to Alaska in 1967 for a summer vacation, and never left. She taught high school art for 22 years in Anchorage and retired in 1990. After retirement, Bev took up skijoring with her Labrador retriever, and five years later learned to run dogs on a sled. She has been racing competitively for eleven years, mainly in the limited 6-dog class. She keeps her kennel at 10 dogs (all females) because that is all her back yard will hold. Bev has published a children's book called This Dog Team Lives In the House, which actually depicts her life at home with all her dogs.
Art Stoller
Art has been raising, racing and feeding sled dogs for nearly 39 years. He is a past multiple ISDRA medal winner in sprint racing and has organized and managed many races. Art is the organizing force behind the new Interior Alaska Stage Race to be held in the Fairbanks area in February. He currently is the coach and general manager for his wife, Janet Smith's, mid-distance racing endeavors. When not engaged in mushing activities, Art works as a land tour manager for John Hall's Alaska.
Al Townshend, DVM
Al graduated from the University of Georgia's school of veterinary medicine. After working in large specialty practices for three years, he started his own practice in his hometown in Maryland, which he operated for 33 years. His interests were in canine sports medicine, which led him to sled dog racing and understanding the value of nutrition. He has been a volunteer trail veterinarian on many sled dog races since 1991, including the Iditarod, John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, the Montana Race to the Sky, and the Wyoming Stage Stop Race. Al was instrumental in creating the International Sled Dog Veterinary Medical Association and served as its first secretary/treasurer. Several years ago he sold his practice and took a position as staff veterinarian for Eagle Pack Pet Foods, Inc.
Aliy Zirkle
Professional dog musher Aliy Zirkle’s life revolves around her dogs. She came to Alaska in 1992 to work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a biologist in the small town of Bettles, which lies about 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The dogs and the people captivated her. After spending years trekking across the Arctic, Aliy entered a Christmas race in the Athabascan village of Allakaket and got hooked. She began to build a strong team of dogs and started racing in mid-distance and long-distance dog races. Aliy became the first woman to win the grueling 1000-Mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race in 2000. Since then, she has turned her sights to the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. She is one of the top racers in the Iditarod and won the coveted Humanitarian Award in 2005 for demonstrating outstanding dog care on the trail. Aliy has been featured domestically and internationally on television and in print and has addressed audiences around the world about mushing and her lifestyle in Alaska. Her kennel is family-run and is dedicated to excellent dog care and nutrition, and training and raising happy, healthy dogs.